alright, who forgot to read their terms and conditions? because there was plenty of dickheads this year... well, two i encounters; the blond guy with the psudo-fro who kept wearing his tanktop around the back of his neck and sticking his tongue out at everyone... basically ruined the last three songs of why?'s set because he was yelling out ''YOU PRENTENTIOUS FAGGOT, STOP IGNORING ME! FAGGOOTTTTT!'' over and over. the second guy was in the pink flamingo bar, who knocked the recycling bin into me, and then started acted like a lizard and bit me on the neck.

oh, wait, there was music too.

we got stuck camping in the new part (didn't have a choice in it), which i dubbled Shitsville, USA. or, (Shitville, Meredith), I guess... as it was just Dirt City. maybe Dirt City would have been better. pretty easy to put the tent up, not so easy to clean the car out...

anyway, yes, got there in time for Akron/Family, who were orrite. apparently better the night before, and didn't really hit their groove until 'ed is a portal', which went off just a little bit. don't think the whole set clicked quite as well as it should have... the bass was very boomy.

after that, back to the tent for some final setup things before the night began... wait a second, who was playing again? oh, right, Sia decided to do the cool thing and play some afro-beat arrangement of the song she played on Rove (after playing a teaser of the proper arrangement), and then wanked on for about an hour. Patrick Wolf seemed to take an awful lot of time to set up, and kept complaining about how the tropical weather was putting all his poor instruments out of tune (whilst everyone on the hill were freezing their arses off)... what a load of cock that set was. the weed sounded like they knocked it out of the park for the half a set i stuck around for, but i was a bit dead at that point. woke up to hear a bit of YACHT, which sounded like fun.

so, saturday, at the $5 naan bread thing with cheese, tomato and basil, which hit the spot... was a bit drizzly by the time the bands started. walked into the amphitheater just as Kid Sam was aping Dirty Three (and failing)... some people enjoyed it, but the dynamics were lacking and the songs were pretty boring and after Patty Wolf I had well and truly had my fill of the faux-operatic indie-boys...

thee oh sees were up next, and thank fuck. finally a band that really killed it. a few minor sound issues (turn up the vox, please), but it was a really fun set. great sound (band-wise) and it felt like i was having a bit of fun, at last.

why? were up next, who were good, but the sound was a bit all over the place. the songs of alopecia really ruled though ('the vowels, pt .2' and 'these few presidents' got the best crowd reaction of the day), but the end was ruined by the aforementioned wanker and a rushed set due to coming on late. i bumped into yoni later on and told him i really enjoyed it, and he was appreciative, but seemed a little down about it. maybe that's just him.

watched kitty, daisy and lewis from the pink flamingo and it didn't do much for me, but they were tight. same with pharaoh monch; could have been any of the token hip-hop acts over the past few years playing and i wouldn't have known the difference.

heavy trash did their thing well... jon spencer goes rockabilly... pretty much what you'd expect. same old jon, just substitute ''it's the blueeeesss exxppplooosssion'' for ''alright, heavy traaaaash!'' in your mind set to a rockabilly soundtrack and you get the idea.

i think my night started to go pearshaped when people were going nuts over dire straits... just because songs are old, does it mean they're good? ''hey, i remember this! lets go nuts!''. i guess i'm a bit cynical, but some of the stuff coming out of the DJ booth over the night was just atrocious. indra could have played kid rock instead of skynrd and everyone would have lapped it up.

this point kinda dovetails into paul kelly... or should that be paul kelly and vika bull (uh, was she on the bill?)... anyway, yeah, he's penned some classic, but are people really that apeshit over him?

anyone who came to meredith to lose their shit to 'my girls' got a bit of a shock when animal collective wound up... they didn't play it. kuro was right in saying that it was like one big techno build-up with no payoff for the pillpoppers to explode to. brothersport almost got there, but their set was an hour of reverb wash. i enjoyed it... but many didn't. again, turn up the vocals.

jarvis, jarvis, jarvis... okay, the setlist wasn't all amazing, but finally someone who came out and took the festival by the balls. what a dude. the name call/angela intro was pretty awesome, and finishing with 'cunts are still running the world' was the highlight of the night.

so, yes, somewhere in the middle of all of jarvis' gyrating and thrusting i started to think about the contrast between the two frontmen that would close out the evening...

so, yes, it was pretty funny to see the backline of marshalls and ampeg to be replaced by a goldentone on a plastic seat... but the rest of this was just weird. i almost felt like eddy current playing midnight at meredith was like getting laid on the first date... it feels like i hardly know you, and yet, here's the climax... is there anywhere for them to go now? anyway, they came on, and it was pretty shaky for a few songs... brendan kept coming in too early. they were obviously a bit nervous, and although i felt like this is what i would want to end my night with, it felt a bit undercooked for the first few songs. started to hit the groove with 'wrapped up', and from then on it was pretty damn good... but still. i dunno.

oh, and also, paul kelly got the golden plains shoe of approval. at meredith. hmm.

So I didn't miss anything. Thank god for that.

yeah, sounds terrible.

pharaoh monch doing 'simon says' was epic. total music festival moment

I was beginning to regret not going to Meredith after a few years off (see my thread requests for a last minute ticket on friday morn). BUT reports via phone from Mr. Juice suggest the music just isn't that great, there are far too many young cockheads running around and he feels old and over it. YAY for me! bring on GP and Boogie!!

Bring on Olden Plains, I say.

who knocked the recycling bin into me, and then started acted like a lizard and bit me on the neck.

you need to get a shot for that.

sounds like all the other times I've been there. funny the things we pay stupid money to enjoy/endure. I guess what can make it special is having your crew there to ride it out with you.

interested to hear how sweeney went on friday. was rad at the toff last night.

Just got home from my first Meredith. Had a decent time overall. I was expecting tonnes of cockheads and so forth so I was happy with the number of them. Music was really inconsitent and the order of bands was plain bizarre.

The good: Akron/Family (very good), Tim Sweeney (party rocking set mixing off of vinyl), Animal Collective (incredible up front), Eddy Current (killed it dead; aside from AC,s et of the weekend), YACHT (not what I was expecting but fun), Thee Oh Sees (incredible), Heavy Trash (totally enjoyable), Jarvis was Jarvis, Ballarat City Brass Band

The bad: Patrick Wolf (who books this dude????), Yacht Club DJs (terrible scratching on top of 25 second snatches of horrible songs; we left after a few minutes), Paul Kelly (joint smoking time), Royal Crown Revue (who booked these has beens???), Regular John, Sia.

Indra was way better than that triple r girl on Friday.

Oh, Tim Sweeney was really fantastic. I was ready to head off to bed but decided to catch the first haf hour and ended up staying til 4 am. Killer tracks, excellent mixing, great presence. One of the best sets I've seen all year.

Pharoahe Monch was pretty great as well. Simon Says was amazingly great.

That was fun. As per usual.

Despite not feeling 100% for most of the weekend and not getting any sleep whatsoever, I still had an awesome time.

Ended up camping in South pines, because everyone seemed to get up there really early this year. Worked out for the best though as we saved a large space for our 10+ tent entourage. Was nice and close to the path down and 2 rows of pine trees. As good as anywhere else i've camped up there.

Highlights -
- Simon Says GET THE FUCK UP!
- Akron/Family being a shitload of fun and really good.
- Oh Sees
- Taking over someone's couch up the back and dancing to ECSR on it until they kicked us off.
- Friends being awesome.

Thought Animal Collective were really underwhelming. Just not a great live show they've got now at all. Had some rad moments though.

YACHT suck.

Weather was kind of annoying. Hot then cold then hot then cold.... constantly. Very burny on the skin too, even though it didn't look like it should be.

interested to hear how sweeney went on friday.

Listened from my bed. Didn't sound particularly interesting or party-worthy.

Also, I did see a few dickheads. Didn't have any encounters with any though. They seemed to be the same as the kind of dickheads you'd always see up there. It wasn't a new breed of dickhead.

My musical highlights were Thee Oh Sees and Jarvis. My non-musical highlights were awesome drunken conversations with awesome people. I no longer have a brain or a liver.

I second everything JudyD said. Also, the slip 'n' slide was pretty hilarious/awesome. So many squashed penii.

Why? sounded like a Christian contemporary band. Was a bit disappointed with Animal Collective, who seemed to be stuck in second gear. Kitty Daisy & Lewis were amazingly awesome.

Also, the ''red'' roti wraps = heaven in a brown paper bag.

One of my favourite bits was when Pharaohe Monche was closing his set asking for the girls to show their titties. He must have given the mic to a girl in the crowd and she just yelled into it ''Shut up!''

He had no comeback

That was amazing.

I lost ye work email. Send me one.

that right 29 as well

29 is the original ultra-toilet. 41 is but a pale imitation.

29? In the same section? Damn, missed it.

Drugs make the most embarrassing moments fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf1tuuy35Zs

What's the obsession with Toilet 41? I took a dump in there and when I came out there was a line of people specifically waiting for it.

Also I know no one else seems to think so but put Sia on the Highlights list for me. She was amazing. My highlights are the same as everyone else's. Also kazpatafta falling on top of me during Eddy Cuz.

Also does ANYONE have a photo of all the shoes during Paul Kelly? That was sick.

29 is the original ultra-toilet. 41 is but a pale imitation.

different banks of loos.

29 in bush camp side, 41 in top camp side. Also, there was the bark painting one, but I forget what number.

I am Morris said 13 minutes ago:
Also does ANYONE have a photo of all the shoes during Paul Kelly? That was sick.

the shoe of appreciation is a golden plains thing that james young started i believe. he did it for comets on fire; the crowd giving it for old crow medicine show last year was fucking magnificant.

the crowd giving it for old crow medicine show last year was fucking magnificant.

wasn't it just.

Also kazpatafta falling on top of me during Eddy Cuz.

I hope you're coming down for GP so we can recreate this during Royal Headache. I promise not to be on so many drugs.

Iron and Wine also got the shoe at Golden Plains '08.

''The Shoe'' aye? I approve.

Won't be at Golden Plains at this rate. I can afford the festival but I can't afford all the travel and accomodation and such that goes along with it. If I get a job... say... this week I may.

:(

Well there's always a place to crash at mine if you need. But I hear you re: job.

I has some photos up at Long Exposure, all a little under-exposed..sorry

Nice Ben!

did anyone take (or have you seen on the interwebz) photos of the LED box light thing (''cube puppy'' I think it was called) that was along the walkway in North Pines? I tried to explain it to my friend and did a really shitty job of it. Need visual cues.

that installation was great. although it turned a ten minute dash for more beer into a half an hour stare.

hollyc said 9 days ago:
Also I would stab someone for another crack at those satay noodles in a cone.

The same one I got from ATP Mt Buller? I loved them but they were too small.

Same ones tugboat!!!

i loved those noodles in a cone but they were too big a serve for me...